The present disclosure relates to a gas turbine engine and, more particularly, to a combustor section therefor.
Gas turbine engines such as those that power modern commercial and military aircraft, generally include a compressor section to pressurize an airflow, a combustor section to burn a hydrocarbon fuel in the presence of the pressurized air, and a turbine section to extract energy from the resultant combustion gases.
The combustor section generally includes radially spaced apart inner and outer liners that define an annular combustion chamber therebetween. The inner and outer liners each typically includes an outer support shell lined with heat shields, often referred to as floatwall liner panels, to line an annular combustion chamber.
Combustion of the hydrocarbon fuel in the presence of pressurized air may produce nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions that are subjected to excessively stringent controls by regulatory authorities, and thus may be sought to be minimized. NOx formation is not only a function of temperature, but also of flame residence time and Oxygen concentration in the reaction zone. Increasing the flame strain tends to reduce the residence time in the flame, but may also increase the Oxygen concentration in the flame. These intermediate effects of strain rates tend to increase the production rate of NOx. At high strain rates, however, the reduction in flame temperature overcomes the influence of the Oxygen concentration, and NOx production rates are reduced.